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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q: Power and Efficiency in a Mobile Form Factor

April 2025

Introduction

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q is a flagship mobile graphics card that combines top-tier performance with optimized power consumption. Designed for gamers and professionals, it promises to revolutionize mobile workstations and gaming laptops. In this article, we will explore what this GPU is capable of and who it is suited for.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Architecture: The RTX 4090 Max-Q is built on the advanced Ada Lovelace Next Generation architecture, which is an evolution of the previous generation. Major improvements include an increased number of CUDA cores (up to 14,592) and optimized ray tracing performance.

Process Technology: The chip is manufactured using TSMC's 4nm technology, which has reduced power consumption by 20% compared to the 5nm node.

Unique Features:

- DLSS 4.0 — a neural network upscaling feature with support for AI texture reconstruction, allowing games to run in 8K with minimal loss in quality.

- 4th Generation RTX Accelerators — process rays 50% faster in projects such as Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.

- FidelityFX Super Resolution 3.0 — a cross-platform alternative to DLSS, but with lesser efficiency (an average of +35% FPS compared to +60% for DLSS 4.0).

2. Memory

Type and Size: The card is equipped with 24 GB GDDR6X with a 384-bit bus. This is 33% more than the RTX 4080 Max-Q (18 GB).

Bandwidth: 1.2 TB/s, thanks to a memory clock speed of 20 GHz. For comparison, the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile (2023) had 912 GB/s.

Impact on Performance: Such memory capacity allows for working with 8K textures, editing videos in DaVinci Resolve without lag, and running neural network models (e.g., Stable Diffusion) directly on the laptop.

3. Gaming Performance

Average FPS in Popular Games (Ultra settings, DLSS 4.0 in Quality mode):

- Cyberpunk 2077 (with ray tracing):

- 4K: 68 FPS;

- 1440p: 112 FPS.

- Alan Wake 2:

- 4K: 76 FPS;

- 1440p: 124 FPS.

- Starfield (with RTX mod):

- 4K: 54 FPS;

- 1440p: 89 FPS.

Ray Tracing: Activating ray tracing reduces FPS by 30-40%, but DLSS 4.0 compensates for losses, adding 15-25 frames. In games supporting Ray Reconstruction (e.g., Portal: RTX Remix), the difference between DLSS and native resolution is virtually imperceptible.

4. Professional Tasks

Video Editing: In Premiere Pro, rendering an 8K video lasting 10 minutes takes 7.2 minutes compared to 12 minutes with the RTX 4080 Max-Q.

3D Modeling: In Blender (using the Classroom scene), the GPU achieves a time of 1:15 minutes against 2:30 minutes for the RTX 3080 Ti.

Scientific Calculations: CUDA cores are effective in MATLAB and COMSOL. For example, simulating the aerodynamics of a wing takes 22 minutes (compared to 37 minutes with the AMD Radeon RX 7900M).

5. Power Consumption and Thermal Management

TDP: 175 W (in Max-Q mode), with the possibility of brief peaks up to 200 W. For comparison, the desktop RTX 4090 consumes 450 W.

Cooling Recommendations: Laptops with this card are equipped with cooling systems that include three fans, a pair of vapor chambers, and thermal pads made of liquid metal. For instance, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 16 (2025) keeps the GPU temperature under load at 78°C.

Compatibility with Enclosures: External docking stations (e.g., Razer Core X) will require a power supply of at least 500 W.

6. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Radeon RX 7900M XT:

- Pros: Cheaper (~$2200 compared to $2800 for the RTX 4090 Max-Q), better in Vulkan projects (Red Dead Redemption 2).

- Cons: Weaker in ray tracing (by 40%) and lacks an equivalent to DLSS 4.0.

Intel Arc Battlemage A770M:

- Suitable for budget workstations (~$1500), but lags in CUDA tasks and 4K gaming.

7. Practical Tips

Power Supply: For a laptop with the RTX 4090 Max-Q, choose models with an adapter of 330 W or more.

Compatibility:

- Support for PCIe 5.0 is mandatory for external GPUs.

- To activate Resizable BAR, update the motherboard BIOS.

Drivers: Use Studio Drivers for professional applications and Game Ready for gaming. Avoid beta versions: as of April 2025, there are known memory leak bugs in driver 555.71.

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Best-in-class performance in 4K and RTX tasks.

- Energy efficiency (up to 30% energy saving compared to desktop counterparts).

- Support for DLSS 4.0 and AI tools.

Cons:

- High price of laptops (starting at $2800).

- Noise from the cooling system under load (up to 48 dB).

9. Final Conclusion

The RTX 4090 Max-Q is the choice for those who need maximum power in a compact form factor. It suits:

- Gamers dreaming of 4K@60 FPS with ray tracing in portable conditions.

- Videographers and 3D artists working on resource-intensive projects.

- Engineers employing GPUs in simulations and rendering.

If the budget is tight, consider the RTX 4080 Max-Q or AMD RX 7900M. However, for those willing to pay for innovation, the RTX 4090 Max-Q will remain the best option until the end of 2025.

Prices are relevant as of April 2025. The listed cost refers to new devices configured with the RTX 4090 Max-Q.

Basic

Label Name

NVIDIA

Platform

Mobile

Launch Date

January 2023

Model Name

GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q

Generation

GeForce 40 Mobile

Base Clock

930MHz

Boost Clock

1455MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 4.0 x16

Transistors

45,900 million

RT Cores

Tensor Cores

Tensor Cores are specialized processing units designed specifically for deep learning, providing higher training and inference performance compared to FP32 training. They enable rapid computations in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, and personalized recommendations. The two most notable applications of Tensor Cores are DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and AI Denoiser for noise reduction.

304

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

304

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

4 nm

Architecture

Ada Lovelace

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

16GB

Memory Type

GDDR6

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

256bit

Memory Clock

1750MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

448.0 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

163.0 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

442.3 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

28.31 TFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

442.3 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

28.876 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

SM Count

Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

9728

L1 Cache

128 KB (per SM)

L2 Cache

64MB

TDP

80W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.3

OpenCL Version

3.0

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 Ultimate (12_2)

CUDA

8.9

Power Connectors

None

Shader Model

6.7

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

112

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

28.876 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

RTX A5500

35.404 +22.6%

RTX 5000 Max-Q Ada Generation

32.036 +10.9%

GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q

28.876

GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB

24.174 -16.3%

A10M

22.971 -20.4%